GP Singapore, prove libere venerdì–20/09/2013

Sebastian Vettel beat Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to the fastest time in Friday’s second Singapore Grand Prix practice session after a mighty battle between the duo.

Championship leader Vettel and Webber swapped the top spot repeatedly on the soft-compound tyres early on. Webber won that battle, with a time of 1m46.157s giving him a 0.251-second advantage over the German, who had just usurped his original mark.

Vettel blew that pace away when he moved onto supersofts and lapped in 1m44.249s.

Webber’s response was compromised by a firm clout of the wall near the end of the lap, leaving him 0.604s down in the end.

Third-placed Nico Rosberg, who pipped Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.110s, was a second off Vettel’s pace.

Steering and brake issues again limited Romain Grosjean’s mileage, but did not stop him putting his Lotus fifth – just 0.043s behind Hamilton – during what little running he managed.

That placed him ahead of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in the top Ferrari and McLaren respectively, and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Lotus.

Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez completed the top 10.

Bar minor brushes such as Webber’s, everyone managed to stay away from the barriers with the exception of Pastor Maldonado, whose Williams required a new front wing.

Lewis Hamilton ended first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix atop the order in his Mercedes.

The Briton led the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in a tentative session that took a long time to get going as even backmarkers waited for track conditions to improve.

The majority of order changes at the front took place around the halfway point.

In a busy few minutes, the early pacesetting Williams duo and McLaren’s Sergio Perez were usurped as the Red Bulls and Mercedes took control.

Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Webber swapped the top spot several times before Hamilton’s 1m47.055s secured practice one honours.

Webber was 0.365 seconds slower in second, with Vettel half a second further back but achieving his best time near the end of a long run.

Rosberg completed the top four ahead of Lotus team-mates Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. The latter’s running was limited by a steering problem.

Fernando Alonso was the fastest Ferrari in seventh.

Perez fell back to eighth, six places ahead of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button,

Felipe Massa was also outside the top 10 in the second Ferrari in 12th as Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Sauber’s improving rookie Esteban Gutierrez claimed ninth and 10th, with Pastor Maldonado’s Williams 11th.

The 22 race drivers took part in the session, with no one standing aside for a reserve as teams preferred to maximise their lead racers’ track time on the tricky Marina Bay street track.